2021 was for sure an eventful year and it went by really, really fast. We shared every step of the ways with you bringing you a sum up of the most important digital marketing news each month and here were are once more with the:

Digital Marketing News from December 2021

1. Search Marketing Updates

• DuckDuck Go is Launching Desktop Version of Mobile App

The mobile search engine solution for a more private experience has announced the release of a desktop version. They claim their solution to be an “everyday browser that respects your privacy” and to be much faster than Google. 

This new release is not to be confused with their extension for Google Chrome. The DuckDuck Go private browsing app will be a standalone product. So far this is what we DuckDuck has said about it:

• Cleaner and simpler interface
• It will keep the “Fire” button from its mobile app
• Less clutter and offer more privacy than Chrome
• Faster than Google Chrome

This desktop version is currently being tested in a closed beta and the company hasn’t made it clear when it will be available for everyone. 

• Google Updates Local Search Results

An algorithm update began to roll out late November and Google has confirmed it concluded early December. Through their Google Search Central Twitter account they said:

Our November 2021 local search update has concluded. It began Nov 30 and ran through Dec 8. It involved a rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results.

On Google’s support page you can find a list of the ranking factors and how to improve them:

• Relevance: how well a local Business Profile matches what someone is searching for.
• Distance: how far each potential search result is from the location term used in a search.
• Prominence: how well known a business is keeping in mind that some places are more prominent in the offline world. 

Even though Google has never been specific about how they rank search results, with these insights you can redirect your efforts towards the one that works best for you and your business. 

• Microsoft Bing’s Integration with Shopify is now Live

Back in October Microsoft Bing announced a new integration with Shopify to allow shoppers across Microsoft to get more diverse products, great prices, and improved discovery of deals.

That integration is now live!

If users head to Microsoft Bing right now and search for a product they have been looking for, they will receive results from millions of merchants thanks to the Shopify integration. After selecting a product and clicking on the “buy now” button, they will be instantly redirected to the shopping cart page to continue with their purchase. 

These products will also be available on Microsoft Start. We’re excited to launch our integration with Shopify to provide our shoppers a delightful experience with wider variety of products, better prices and convenience of “buy now”. – Microsoft Blog

2. Marketing Tech Updates

• Adobe Announces Free Creative Cloud Express

Adobe is introducing a new suite of tools called Creative Cloud Express. It’s a web and mobile app created for anyone, from students to entrepreneurs, to create:

Creative Cloud Express draws on our decades of experience working with the creative community. It makes the core technology in our industry-leading products like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro available with just a few clicks — and with no learning curve. And whether your goal is to make a flyer, edit an image, or produce marketing assets, you don’t have to start from scratch — Creative Cloud Express gives you access to thousands of beautiful templates, millions of images from Adobe Stock, thousands of fonts, and many more assets that you can personalize to tell your story. – Adobe Blog

This free tool is designed for everyone to use, even people with no previous experience with design software. This new suit of tools, Creative Cloud Express is available on the web, in Microsoft stores and on apps for iOS and Android.

It’s so easy to use thanks to many simple features called Quick Actions like removing an image background, trimming a video, or creating a GIF with just a few clicks. On top of that, the suite offers access to millions of resources like photos, fonts, templates, graphics and other. 

• WordPress delayed  5.9 version Release

WordPress has delayed the release of the 5.9 version to January 25th 2022. Originally, it was intended to be published in December 2021, but the project fell significantly behind schedule and core contributors raised their concerns about being able to meet deadlines. 

On their blog they informed that near the end of original alpha release cycle there were issues related to the new features planed for the 5.9 version:

• Full Site Editing (FSE), which is a collection of features, such as global styles interface, Navigation Block, block themes, template editors, and site editing flows.
• The Twenty Twenty-Two (TT2) theme, which depends on these FSE features.

The thing is that WordPress 5.9 version is a major one because of the full editing features it includes and they need to get it right. Adding up to that, the WordPress 6.0 version was scheduled to be released in April 2022 and they felt it was too long for the community to wait.

After revising the list of issues, the Core Editor team realized that these features could be included in the 5.9 version with the new schedule. They are focusing on a schedule that delivers full release and this is what they said:

5.9 is still in feature freeze. Work from here on is strictly to address the changes that get the release to a stable state. – WordPress Blog 

• Jotform adds 3 new Widgets

Jotform takes pride in the vast amount of (very specific) widgets they have to cover their users’ needs. This month they are introducing 3 new ones they feel are worth highlighting:

• Image Gallery
• WhatsApp Button
• OpenStreetMap

The Image Gallery widget allows users to add a photo gallery to their form. They feel this feature could be useful for order forms, for example, when a user needs to display a wide range of products. The widget it’s said to be very easy to use and customize with no coding required. 

The Whatsapp Button embed directly to the forms so anyone can access and message to Whatsapp. It’s a widget that allows users a seamless way to communicate. In Jotform’s blog they say: Use the WhatsApp Button to collect orders, receive feedback or contact information, or simply as a way for users to contact you with any urgent requests.

Last but not least, the OpenStreetMap widget allows users to display an interactive map on their form or app:

This can be especially useful for giving users a point of reference for specific destinations — whether it’s to show precisely where your business is located, how to find an event space, how to navigate to the nearest parking lot, or anything else. – Jotform Blog

3. Social Media Updates

• TikTok Users Can Make Money Through Tips & Gifts

Social media platform TikTok is introducing new ways for content creators to get paid with addition of tips and gifts. These new features are part of a suite of new monetization tools called Creator Next. 

• Tips: the new tipping feature allows users to send tips of $5, $10, $15, or custom tip amount to other users to show their appreciation for the content they create. When a user gets a tip, they receive 100% of it. These payments are facilitated by Stripe and users who are eligible to receive them will display a new icon on their profiles.

• Video Gifts: the new gifting feature allows users to send virtual gifts to other users on specific videos and the recipient can exchange them for money. You might have already seen a new gift box icon displayed on certain videos. 

To be eligible for receiving tips and gift a user must comply with the following:

• 18+ years of age
• At least 1,000 video views in past 30 days
• Have at least three posts in the past 30 days
• An account that’s in good standing with TikTok’s community guidelines
• Be based in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, or Spain
• Meet minimum follower requirements (which differs depending on region)

• Twitter Adds Auto Captions for All Video Uploads in Tweets

Twitter has announced a major new feature: all videos uploaded within tweets will have auto caption enabled. 

The new captions will be enabled for in-stream videos that are muted, on both iOS and Android, while desktop users will have the option to switch them on and off as they please. The captions are available in 37 languages and will show in the language of the device used to upload the video.

Translation and editing of the captions are still in development but this new feature allows Twitter users to access content in more formats. As this social media platform has always been text-focused the auto caption for videos opens the doors to give more prominence to videos. 

• Clubhouse Launches Saved Replays, Unveils New App Icon

Clubhouse, the popular social media platform that gave us so much to talk about early 2021, has announced one more update before the year ends. 

The new “Saved Replays” feature allows users to save the audio from a recorded Clubhouse chat to listen to later. Any user can access the option by clicking the three dots and then tapping the “Save Replay” button. 

This might be a feature users were expecting from the app since it seems to be very useful to be able to listen to audio chats later in time. 

The app also unveiled a new icon featuring streaming influencer Abraxas Higgins since they consider him a “quintessential Clubhouse success story”:

“A former Wall Street banker turned music marketing strategist turned audio influencer. In addition to being the host of Clubhouse’s beloved morning show 9AM in London, Abraxas is also the most followed person in the UK on Clubhouse and makes more money now from brand partners than he did as an investment strategist.” 

That ‘s for 2021!

2021 was for sure a year full of interesting events in all aspects. We hope you enjoyed our last digital marketing news article of the year and we will see you on the next ones! 

Happy 2022! 

Web push notifications are messages sent through browsers. Besides the text, they can also include images and action buttons. What’s great about web push notifications is that they work as a retargeting channel but with added values:

• No personal data from users required
• Can reach users on both desktop and mobile
• They have hyper-personalization capabilities

If you want to dive deeper on the functionality of this new channel, we recommend you check out our Complete Guide on Web Push Notifications. But in this blog post we are going to focus specifically on the types of web push notifications and how you can use and combine them to grow your online business, engage users and increase your revenue.

Types of Web Push Notifications

First of all, what you need to know is that there are two main categories of web push notifications: automated and time- based ones. This distinction is important because each of them have their own subcategories. So let’s get into it!

What are Automated Web Push Notifications?

Automated web push notifications are behaviour-based messages sent to users automatically after they perform a specific predefined action on the website. These notifications require the definition of a trigger event and exception event and a time frame to be sent.  

For example, if someone adds a product to their shopping cart and leaves the site without completing a purchase, after the time you define, they will receive a web push notification reminding them about their abandoned cart and inviting them to go back and complete the purchase. 

On the other hand, in the same scenario, if the user adds the product to their cart and completes the purchase, the notification won’t be sent. In simpler words:

• Triggering event: product added to cart
• Exception event: product purchased

Automated web push notifications campaigns only have to be configured one first time, then everything keeps running automatically. You just need to define the messages, for each one, the trigger and event scenarios and the timings. 

Just like with emails, cart abandonment web push notifications are the most popular and common ones. However, you can have more than one message for each campaigns you create and it is possible to define as many triggering and exception scenarios as you desire to match your typical user journey:

1. Types of Automated Web Push Notifications

1.1 Welcome Notification

In order to subscribe to a web push notifications channel, users need to click on Allow in the otp-in prompt shown to them when they visit a site that has web push notifications enabled. Once they do, after a few seconds (we recommend 10 seconds), you can send a notification welcoming them!

In this case the trigger event would be “subscription received”. Normally, the welcome notification doesn’t have an exception event because it is sent rather quickly after the action taken by the user and it is always a good idea to seize the opportunity to make that first contact through this new channel. 

You can express your gratitude to them for opting in and take the opportunity to redirect them to a specific page on your site like a new collection, a sales section or maybe the about page. 

Another option is to offer them a discount coupon for their first purchase or invite them to join your newsletter. The welcome notification is a great way to introduce the channel to your new subscribers and let them know what they can expect from it. 

1.2 Category Notification

In a very traditional user journey in an e-commerce site, the second step after landing in the home page would be to visit a category page. With automated web push notifications you can define a scenario accordingly.

If a user visits a category page and then leaves the site without taking any further action, a notification will be sent (after the time you decide) with a message related to the visited category.

In other words is doing category retargeting with a message that can include the complete name of the category, an image representing it and an appealing message that invites the user to come back and take another look. 

In this automated scenario the triggering event would be “category viewed” and the exception event “product viewed”, which takes us to the next type of notification.

1.3 Product Notification

The product retargeting notification is sent to users when they visit a product page and then leave the site without doing anything else. In this case the triggering event would be “product viewed” and the exception event would correspond to the obvious next step which is “product added to cart”.

Since product pages have much more detailed and specific information, the product notification can include it making it a lot richer for the user. You can include product image, product name, product brand, price, size and even color if the case. These are all dynamic parameters taken directly from the website so you don’t have to do any manual work. 

By making the notification as personalised as possible, you can highly increase the click through rate because it will be more relevant to the user that receives it.

1.4 Cart Abandonment Notification

The following stage in this journey would be to add the product to the shopping cart. The retargeting cart abandonment web push notification is sent to users that add a product to their carts and then leave the site without completing the purchase.

The triggering event would be “product added to cart” and the exception event “product purchased”. This means that the notification won’t be sent if the user goes through with the purchase. 

The same as with Product Notifications, you can also include dynamic parameters to make the message as personalised as possible. For cart abandonment web push notifications is also a good strategy to include messages that appeal to a sense of urgency such as “last units”, “get it before we run out”,  or “this is your last chance”. 

Normally, click-through rates of cart abandonment notifications are the highest because, when users reach this stage of the funnel they already show a higher purchase intent than in other stages. If you design an appealing message you will get amazing results for sure. 

1.5 Post-purchase Notification

You are probably already familiar with post-purchase emails. Well, there’s a web push notification version in which you can set an event that automatically sends a message to a customer some time after they made a purchase.

In this scenario, your imagination is the limit! You can send a notification asking for their opinion of the product they purchased and use it as a strategy to get more online reviews about your brand, for example. There’s also the option to announce a new collection, new arrival and invite them to come back and make a new purchase. 

Post-purchase web push notifications are great to stay in touch with your customers after they have already converted by sending updates and information that could interest them. The main objective here is to stay in their top of mind and try to make them recurring customers. 

1.6 Cross-sell Notification

Cross-sell campaigns are very popular and effective for e-commerce. These campaigns offer value to shoppers and can increase business’ revenue significantly. They consist of sending a message to a customer that finished a purchase, suggesting complementary products.

In this scenario the trigger would be “product purchased” and there wouldn’t be an exception event. To set up web push notification cross-sell campaigns you need to register and track information regarding the product the customer bought and time since the last purchase. 

Combining this data you can create a hyper-personalised notification suggesting a product that complements the previous purchase. For example, if the shopper got a moisturizing day cream, you can suggest a moisturizing night cream from the same brand. 

1.7 Back to Stock Notification

Back to stock announcements are very effective because they make reference to a very popular and on-demand product that customers are surely eager to get. If you run out of stock from a specific product, it’s safe to assume that there’s a lot of people waiting to buy it, so sending a notification letting them know that it’s available again is a great strategy.

You can send this message to all users that visited said product with a trigger event “back to stock” and an exception event “product purchased”. Keep in mind that, in order to be able to send back to stock web push notifications you need an additional integration process in your site through an API. 

1.8 Price Drop Notification

The same as with back to stock, price drop web push notifications also require an extra step with integration with an API to get the info of when a product experiences a price drop.

The trigger event here would be “price drop” so the notifications get sent to all subscribers that visited said product page. These types of notifications also show great results because they are extremely relevant for users. Not only do they show information about a product they have expressed interest in, but they have the added value of the price drop making it much more attractive for them. 

1.9 Lead Nurturing Notifications

Lead nurturing web push notification sequences are great for B2B. You can create a flow of messages that offer valuable information that helps prospects move down the funnel during their decision making process.

For example, you can send a first message sharing information about a special feature your product has 1 day after receiving the subscription. Then, 1 week later you can send a web push notification with a case study as an example of what you can do for your clients and 1 week later maybe a whitepaper with useful information about your product in different industries. 

2. Types of Time-based Notifications

2.1 Manual Web Push Notifications

Also called bulk web push notifications, they are the notifications equivalent to email newsletters. These notifications are not automated, which means you have to set them up manually and they are sent to all of your subscribers database unless you segment manually as well.

Manual web push notifications are used to share time sensitive information like sales, special promotions or contests. You can use them to communicate any time you launch a product, for example, and they are excellent for special dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

Keep in mind that bulk web push notifications are not behaviour based like the automated ones. This means that you need to be extra creative and careful with your copies and the images you add to make sure you park your audience’s interest with a great message. 

One of the great benefits of these types of campaigns is that, since you can send them to all of your subscribers at once, they are amazing traffic generators to your site. If you like to plan ahead, you have the option to schedule them for a specific time and date or, in any other case, to send them as soon as you create them. 

2.2 Recurring Web Push Notifications

Recurring web push notifications are great to ensure a permanent contact with your subscribers. You can set up 2 or 3 different generic messages to be sent automatically in a 30 day period inviting subscribers to visit your site again. 

Since you can design a couple of different versions, they will be sent randomly to all your subscribers varying each month. For example, you can have a monthly notification with a message related to new arrivals and another one inviting users to visit your social media pages. Each month 50% of your subscribers will receive one of them and the other 50% the other one. You can have as many versions as you want and use Frizbit’s A/B testing features to choose the percentage of subscribers you want to send each one to. 

 

Another option, if you sell a product that’s bought frequently like pet food for example, you can set up recurring web push notifications that work as a reminder for pet owners letting them know it’s time to buy again! Your subscribers will find it valuable because it would serve the purpose of a reminder of something that’s important to them and you’ll increase the chances of them purchasing from you again. It’s a win-win situation!

Recurring web push notifications correspond to the loyalty stage of the funnel. 

General Comments

As we mentioned before, you can create as many scenarios as you want for your web push notifications campaigns. However, for optimal results we strongly recommend to set up at least the 4 main ones:

• Welcome notifications
• Category retargeting notifications
• Product retargeting notifications
• Cart abandonment notifications

You can create a sequence of automated notifications for each of them with a different message that’s sent after certain periods of time. For example:

 

The important thing is that you try and find the combination that works best for your online business regarding timings and amount of notifications for each campaign. While for one brand it would make sense to send 5 product retargeting notifications in one week, for another it might be better to only have a couple notifications in a 3 day period. 

Web push notifications open a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to retargeting strategies and we would be delighted to show it to you. If you want to request a one trial month period with us, don’t hesitate to get in touch! 

Suggested readings:

• Best Email Marketing Campaigns: Types and Examples
• Digital Marketing Trends 2022
• “Don’t Use Web Push Notifications!” Demystifying the Biggest Prejudices About Web Push Notifications

Email marketing is the practice of sending emails to promote products or services and engage with customers. Through email marketing campaigns, businesses can share news, updates, inform about new products, special sales and much more. 

This channel has been the favourite for many businesses for a long time and with good reason. Here are some interesting stats:

• The global e-mail marketing market was valued at $7.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to increase to $17.9 billion by 2027. (Statista, 2021)
• There are 4 billion daily email users. This number is expected to climb to 4.6 billion by 2025. (Statista, 2021)
• Across all industries, the average email open rate is 19.8%, the click-through rate is 11.3%, and the bounce rate is 9.4%. (Constant Contact, 2021)

So, whether you are already using email marketing campaigns as part of your digital marketing mix or not, is a channel that, after many years, is still very much alive and has a lot to offer: 

Email Marketing Advantages

1. It helps you build long-term relationships with your audience
2. It drives traffic to your website
3. Cost-effective
4. Highly customisable
5. Provides value to your customers
6. Increases revenue
7. Any type of online business can use them (ecommerce, travel, B2B, SaaS)

As marketing professionals it’s our job to recognise the value of tools that help us connect with our audience and reach our business goals, leaving aside rumours and prejudices. Having said that here are: 

Types of Email Marketing Campaigns You Should be Sending

1. Welcome Emails – (All industries: ecommerce, travel, B2B, real estate)

Sites usually struggle and jump through hoops to get people to share their email addresses and become subscribers. So, once they do, make sure you show them your appreciation! The best way to do it is to send them a nice welcoming email introducing yourself and thanking them for joining your mailing list.

The welcome email is your opportunity to start creating a connection with your audience. Seize this opportunity to give a very good first impression about your business, share relevant information about what you do and (maybe) give them a small gift. 

This is not the moment to try and sell something or ask anything else from your audience. They already gave you their email address, which is something very valuable for most of us, and not everyone is always willing to share it.

The welcome email is where you set the foundation of the type of relationship you want to build with your audience. Here is where you let them know what to expect from you, so also make sure you design an eye-appealing email that pleasantly surprises your new subscribers and you can also give a discount as a thank you for subscribing. 

According to invesp, “subscribers who receive a Welcome email show 33% more engagement with the brand” and “have 14.4% click rate compared to just 2.7% in other types”.

2. Informational / Update Emails – (All industries: ecommerce, travel, B2B, real estate

Informational emails are used to share news and keep your subscribers database up to date with everything going on in your business that might be of their interest. You can use them to let them know about new arrivals, product launches, new features or invite them to read a new blog post!

There are different types of informational emails:

• New content announcements
• Product updates
• Newsletters

These types of emails are great to keep in touch with your subscribers and let them know you are constantly updating your products or services to please them and offer them a better experience.

Informational emails don’t tend to be very long since they might be the least interesting type to receive from the user’s end. If you are going to include a call to action (which you should always do), you can invite them to visit your site and check out the new feature/service/product you have. 

3. Cart Abandonment Emails – (Ecommerce, travel)

We are living in the era of digital marketing automation to simplify processes and make our lives much easier. That’s why automated email marketing campaigns are a must for any online business. 

Behavioural emails are automated campaigns delivered to users based on their individual behaviour and actions taken inside a website. The way they work is by website owners defining certain scenarios that trigger the event (email being sent) when a user completes a specific action.
The most popular type of automated email campaigns are the cart abandonment recovery emails. 98% of users leave sites without completing a purchase, leaving behind products in their virtual shopping carts. Abandoned cart emails are sent to those users some time (usually 30 mins to 2 hours) after they leave the site with a message inviting them to go back and finish the purchase.

Cart abandonment emails have proven to be a great strategy that offers wonderful results, we have seen it work for our clients with::

• 4% increase in sales

• 3.8x conversion rate

The good thing about cart abandonment emails is that they usually have higher open rates than any other type of campaigns because they present subscribers with personalised content. These emails have information regarding the product they like and are usually enriched with images, price and a custom message inciting them to go back and finish the purchase/booking.

These types of emails are most commonly used for ecommerce sites. However, the travel industry can greatly benefit from them by sending emails to users that didn’t complete a hotel reservation or didn’t finish booking a flight, for example.

Suggested read: Are cart abandonment emails GDPR compliant?

4. Post-purchase Emails – (Ecommerce, travel)

By now you should already know the value of repeating customers:

• The probability of selling to an existing customer is between 60% and 70%. (Semrush, 2021)
• Existing customers are 50% more likely to try your business’s new product. (Semrush, 2021)
• Existing customers are also 31% more likely to spend more on their average order value with your business. (Semrush, 2021)

So we have established the importance of taking care of your existing customers and building loyalty with them. One way to do so is by using post-purchase email campaigns. These are the emails you send to customers after they complete a purchase/reservation on your site. 

To build trust and loyalty, you can send an email with useful information related to their purchase. For example, if they bought an eyeshadow palette, you can send a post-purchase email with a tutorial on how to combine them, or if they booked a flight, an email with the details of their reservation information or maybe a few suggested activities they can enjoy at their travel destination.

If you apply this strategy, most likely your customers are going to really appreciate the gesture since they will find the information very useful. You will create loyalty because you keep showing interest even after having made a sale, thus increasing the chances they purchase from you again and decreasing the possibility of users unsubscribing from your mailing list. 

5. Cross-sell Emails –  (Ecommerce, travel)

Cross-sell emails are another type of post-purchase emails. They are sent to customers who already made a purchase with suggestions of other products that could complement the one they already got.

By suggesting other products from your catalog based on the consumer’s purchasing history, you can turn one-time shoppers into repeating customers. The objective is to create loyalty that ultimately generates you more sales. 

When sending cross-sell emails you should highlight the main product you want to make reference to and also add a couple more options. Since you are not 100% sure what your customer wants nexts, it’s a good idea to give alternatives and increase even more the chances of a new purchase. 

Cross-sell emails usually work so well because you are reaching out to a customer that has already engaged with your business before, and they also help make discovering new products so much easier. 

They are also valid for the travel industry. For example, if a customer booked a flight to Paris, you can send a cross-sell email suggesting accommodation, car rentals or tours.

6. Price Drop Emails – (Ecommerce, travel, real estate)

Price drop emails, as their name clearly explains, are emails sent to customers who expressed interest in a product or service, but didn’t complete a purchase, announcing to them that its price dropped below a certain threshold.

These types of emails work very similar to cart abandonment emails because they are behaviour based and triggered by the user actions. They let shoppers know that a product or service they wanted to purchase is now available at a much lower price, thus presenting them with a great opportunity they wouldn’t like to miss. 

Price drop emails are very effective because they are based on user behaviour and have the added value of presenting a sale or offer on that specific product the user liked. They offer relevant, personalised information with a great appeal of a lower price. 

Using price drop emails is a great tactic to bring users back to your site and also clear stock, finish filling a flight or finally rent that property you have been trying to get out there for a long time.

7. Back to Stock Emails – (Ecommerce)

Back to stock emails are probably the most neglected type of emails because usually everyone focuses on more traditional ones like welcome, cart abandonment and post-purchase emails.

However, back to stock emails represent a huge sales opportunity. Consider the fact that, if a product is sold out, it must mean that it’s popular, that people like it and it might sell out again. How many people might be expecting for it to go back to stock to purchase it?

That’s your opportunity to reach out to them with a fabulous back to stock email and let them know the product they want so badly is available again! 

8. Lead Nurturing Emails – (All industries: Ecommerce, B2B, travel, real estate)

Lead nurturing makes reference to the process of developing a relationship between brands and potential clients helping them with their decision making process and move down the funnel until they complete a purchase.

This process is so important because it keeps your product or service in people’s top of mind. Using lead nurturing emails showing more details and highlighting features of your product/service helps you tip the scales in your favor when the time comes to make a decision.

You can automate lead nurturing email campaigns by creating different sequences depending on the stage of the funnel the user is at the moment. These campaigns can be sent through a predefined period of time with personalised, specific messages. 

For example, if someone subscribes for a free demo period of your software, you can add that user to a sequence of emails that first show how to use the platform step by step, then highlights the features and ultimately invites the user to make the purchase with information about how many days are left of the free demo. 

General Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Email Marketing Campaigns

Whichever business you run and the campaigns you decide to implement, there are a few good practices you should follow to make the most of you email campaigns:

• Make sure you write an appealing and descriptive Subject line
• Include emojis in the subject
• Personalise them as much as possible
• Make them easy on the eyes taking care of the design
• Add a clear call to action inviting them respond
• Include links to your social media profiles
• Keep track of your data and analyse your campaigns to optimise them later

We hope you find this information useful and apply these strategies and tips to your email marketing campaigns. 

You can also check out: 

• How to Use Web Push Notifications for B2B
• 6 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your E-commerce Website
• How can Marketing Automation Help you Sell More

With just one month left to 2021 and a major holiday season right ahead, it’s imperative that we take our time to checkout the most important: 

Digital Marketing News and Updates from November 2021

1. Search Marketing News

• Google Launches New Tools and Features to Support Local News

Over the past five years Google has reported an increase in queries on search like “news near me”, reaching a special high during COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020. In response to this demand, Google is launching new features for local search results and new tools for journalists:

“At Google, we’re dedicated to finding new ways to help readers better connect with publishers and helping publishers more efficiently and creatively produce quality journalism their readers want.” Google Blog

a) New Features for Local Search Results

• Local News Carousel: readers will see a carousel of local news stories when there’s local news relevant to their query.

• Top Stories: Google is improving their system to show authoritative local news sources more often alongside national publications.

• Topic Understandment: Google is refining its ability to have a better understanding of general topics like “sports” to more specific ones like “tennis” to help readers get more relevant search results paired with location signals. 

• Local Tweets: results are now showing tweets by local sources, authors authorities and organizations relevant to the search query. 

b) New Tools for Reporters

• Census Mapper Project: an embeddable map tool aimed to help reporters sort out and visualize data in a more easy and appealing way. It displays Census data at the national, state and county level, as well as census tracts.

• Common Knowledge Project: is a data explorer and visual journalism project and Google is making improvements to integrate journalist feedback and new features including geographic comparisons, new charts and visuals.

 

• Google Ads App Updated With 3 New Features

Google is making marketers life’s a little bit easier by updating the Google Ads App adding new 3 features that allow them to make changes and monitor campaigns performance directly from mobile devices. 

• Improved Performance Insights: the update will provide information about campaign performance with a real time notification when a significant change occurs, an explanation of why it happened and, in some cases, a recommendation on how to fix the issue. There will also be insights on positive changes in performance to help marketers understand what worked and how to replicate it in the future. 

• Real-time Search Trends: Google added search trends to the mobile app to make it accessible from everywhere.
  “Let’s say you’re a grocery retailer looking to reach more customers. With Search trends, you may notice a rising trend for “cookie decorating kits” and “bread & pastry dough”. You can then act on these trends by creating new campaigns for these products, and even update your in-store and online merchandising as well. 

• Campaign Creation on the go: with just a few taps is now possible to create campaigns directly from the Google Ads mobile app. By simply tapping the “plus” button you can select your campaign type, where you’d like your ads to appear and other campaign settings. 

• Google Makes Improvements in Search Results for “Deals” Query

During Holiday season searches for deals and discounts peak. That’s why Google is introducing new ways for people to connect with businesses and find the “right deal at the right moment throughout the season.”

 

• Helping People Find the Right Deal: products with a deals badge will appear in a new feed in the Shopping Tab. People can access it by selecting the “Deals” menu or by doing a search that triggers for queries like “deals” or “Black Friday.” Any product with a deals badge is eligible and will be highlighted depending on how attractive the offer is.

• Measure Deals Performance: merchants will be able to see which of their products are eligible for a deals badge in the products tab within the Merchant Center. The dashboard now shows a detailed performance report with data on impressions, clicks and click-through rate.

  

• WooCommerce and Shopify Integration: both platforms businesses will be able to showcase their existing deals across Google by synching existing and new promotions to their products listed on Google directly within their store dashboard.

2. Marketing Tech Updates

• HubSpot Launches New Payments Solution

The CRM platform has announced the launch of HubSpot Payments to Help Customers Deliver a Better Buying Experience. HubSpot Payments is an end-to-end payment solution built natively as part of the platform and allows companies to accept payments seamlessly with fewer tools. 

“For too long, B2B companies have suffered through painful sales processes that leave customers frustrated and lost revenue on the table. That’s why we’ve built HubSpot Payments to enhance the customer experience rather than slow it down” – Brad Greene, VP of commerce and payments at HubSpot.

With HubSpot Payments companies will be able to accept digital payments without the need of any type of development, since it’s integrated directly into the CRM. It also allows a more secure buying experience for customers being able to pay in just a few clicks using the payment method they prefer.

• Mailchimp and Shopify Launch Direct Integration

Mailchimp announced a partnership with Shopify for new and existing users of both platforms to connect their Mailchimp account with their Shopify storefront through a direct integration without needing third-party tools or manual data transfer. 

Mailchimp shared the news saying that “By connecting Mailchimp and Shopify directly, merchants will be able to combine the power of purchase data with marketing data and use those insights to help drive conversions, increase revenue, and reach more customers at the right point of their buying journey.”

This integration comes in time to help small businesses make the most out of the holiday season by making it easier for merchants to reach their customers. 

“The combined power of Mailchimp’s suite of marketing tools and Shopify’s robust commerce infrastructure will level the playing field and unlock even more opportunity for independent businesses to grow and succeed into the future.” – Fatima Yusuf, Director of Commercial, App Ecosystem, Shopify.

Mailchimp also acquired the ShopSync app, which has helped Mailchimp users connect their accounts to Shopify stores.

• Slack Introduces New Platform

With the purpose of empowering organizations by understanding that each one of them works with different flows, structures and specific requirements Slack has completely rebuilt and re-engineered the Slack platform. 

They want Slack to be companies’ Digital HQ to make work more productive and pleasant. With this update they are offering businesses a tailored solution that adapts and responds to their unique business needs. On their blog they say:

“From everyday business users like sales representatives, administrators and marketers to seasoned engineers, everyone can customize their Slack experience and digital HQ to fit how they work, now and in the future.”

Here’s what’s new:

• Workflow Builder: a feature that allows non-developers to create workflows by dragging and dropping pieces of existing apps and then customizing how they work together. 

• Slack Links (coming soon): with just one click, users will be able to sign in to their work apps using their Slack accounts. 

• Subscribe in Slack (coming soon): users will be able to set up Slack notifications from their other tools integrated into their Slack workspace. 

3. Social Media Updates

• YouTube Removes Dislike Counts On All Videos

Videos on YouTube will no longer show a public dislike count, while the dislike button remains. Early 2021 YouTube experimented with the dislike button making invisible the dislike vote count to help protect content creators against harassment where people worked to increase the number of dislikes from a certain video.  

“We want to create an inclusive and respectful environment where creators have the opportunity to succeed and feel safe to express themselves. This is just one of many steps we are taking to continue to protect creators from harassment. Our work is not done, and we’ll continue to invest here”. – YouTube Blog

The results from this experiment showed that, because the count wasn’t visible, viewers were less likely to hit the button trying to drive up the number of dislikes. Apparently this is a practice that affects small and new channels the most. 

Based on these results, YouTube has decided to make the dislike count private across the entire platform. Viewers will still have the option to hit the dislike button if they want to and creators will still be able to find the exact amount of dislikes from a video on YouTube Studio along other metrics. 

This change is rolling out gradually since early November 2021. 

• Instagram Launches Live Test of Longer Videos in Stories

Instagram has launched a live test for 60 seconds videos in stories. This means that longer videos won’t be split into 15 seconds clips anymore. This is what Instagram had to say when inquired about the subject by socialmediatoday: 

“The ability to create longer Stories posts comes highly requested by our community. We’re excited to be testing 60-second Stories so that people can create and view Stories with fewer interruptions.” 

This initiative comes from the desire of Instagram to simplify and consolidate ideas, since they launched a lot of features in the last year. The decision has also been influenced by social media platform TikTok which has become most popular between younger crowds and thrives with simplicity. 

The new feature is currently being tested with only a small group of users, but soon it will reach more and more people. 

• TikTok Tests New Option to Tag Other Profiles in Your Video Clips

With the objective of boosting engagement, TikTok is rolling out a feature that allows users to tag other profiles in their clips. This option comes as an addition to the already available @mention option within the post captions. 

This means that users can still alert other profiles about their clips, but keeping the caption text free of mentions. Functionality wise it doesn’t represent a major change, however it does provide a new way to link creators content. 

The new option to tag other profiles, is still being tested and there are no plans to roll it out to all users at the moment. 

Digital Marketing News From November 2021

So here are the most important news and digital marketing trends from November 2021. As always Google is constantly providing with more and better tools for marketers to do their jobs the easiest way possible, marketing platforms are keeping up with teams’ requirements and social media competition never ends.

Which update caught your attention the most?

If you are interested in reading more about digital marketing make sure to visit some of our other blog post:

• Digital Marketing Trends 2022
• 2021 Christmas Marketing Ideas and Strategies To Boost Your E-commerce Sales
• The Future of Digital Marketing Without 3rd Party Cookies

Keeping up with digital marketing trends is already a very time consuming process by itself without adding the uncertainty and changes brought as a consequence of Covid-19 pandemic. 2021 was still a year of challenges and adjustments and it’s time to take it all in, review what we learned and prepare for the next chapter. 

Marketing trends continue to move towards offering users personalised experiences through innovative technology that, at the same time, reduces load work for marketing teams. It’s all about optimisation of processes that increase engagement and are cost effective. 

With that in mind here are the top:

Digital Marketing Trends 2022

1. Conversational Marketing

Conversational marketing is AI powered forms of conversation to talk to consumers. Is the use of interfaces such as live chats, chatbots or voice assistants to engage in conversations with customers in a more human manner. 

More and more, consumers are seeking connections and personalised treatment when evaluating shopping options. Brands need to respond to this need and apply strategies that give their customers what they want.

Adding a tool that allows engaging interactions it’s a great method to connect with consumers and offer personalised experiences that provide value for both parties:

• Brands will gain insights about their consumers
• Users will get response to their questions with super personalised conversations

Another important fact to keep in mind is that users are looking for almost immediate responses from brands when they have doubts about a product or service. Conversational marketing can provide instant connections between customers and brands, facilitating communication that gains their trust. 

Machine learning allows you, through conversational marketing tools, to create interactions tailor made for each user. Including it into your marketing strategy will help you assist them in selecting the right option for them and creating a relationship that ultimately leads to increasing your sales. 

As a trend within the trend, we can talk about WhatsApp Marketing. WhatsApp is the leading messaging platform in the world, followed by Facebook Messenger. For some years now, Facebook has been promoting WhatsApp as a tool for businesses, either through WhatsApp Business (focused on small businesses) or through WhatsApp Business API. You have a complete guide about WhatsApp Marketing in this link.

2. Gamification

Think about the features that make games so much fun and engaging. Now try and apply them to a website: that’s gamification put simply. Gamification marketing is the practice of including gaming elements in a non-gaming environment with the objective of increasing engagement and it’s a major digital marketing trend for 2022.

Gamification is a very creative way for any type of online business to get their message across and make it more memorable in an environment where it is very difficult to stand out and make an impact. 

Here are some examples on how you can include gamification in your digital marketing strategy:

• Countdowns: users are challenged to complete certain actions in a limited period of time
• Achievements: points, badges, or some kind of reward is given to users for reaching an accomplishment. 
• An actual game: you can create a game on your site for users to play and offer them a reward depending on how far they make it!

There are many advantages from gamification: increases user engagement, CTRs and conversions. You just need to find the best option that suits your business and try it out!

3. Marketing Automation

Marketing automation refers to software that allows you to set up campaigns (emails, SMS or web push notifications) that are “triggered” and sent by a specific action taken by the user. With these types of tools you can schedule messages for a certain date like Black Friday, for example, or define scenarios based on user behaviour that activate a specific message.

The great thing about marketing automation is all the time you can save. You only need to set up your campaigns one first time and then everything keeps working automatically. Plus, since the campaigns are usually behaviour-based, they offer users super personalised information that’s relevant to them, thus increasing their engagement with your brand. 

According to TheeDigital 77% of companies that have implemented some sort of marketing automation tool have seen an increase in conversions thanks to lead nurturing automated campaigns. 

Besides, marketing automation is within everyone’s reach. There are tons of tools  that offer a free subscription option out there for companies of all sizes and budgets to benefit from this strategy.

4. Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is the automation of the media buying process. Normally, marketers would have to manually search for advertising space, create proposals and negotiate terms. With programmatic advertising they can automatically bid for an ad space, getting rid of all the manual, time-consuming process and focus on campaign optimization.

According to Projector, “brands are now assigning up to 50% of their ad budgets to programmatic advertising, and the trend is expected to exceed $100 billion in 2022.” 

One of the reasons programmatic advertising is so effective is that it uses data insights to place and show the most relevant ad, to the right user at the right time. This ultimately results in better CTRs and improves ROI. 

5. Online Reviews

Reviews and customers’ opinions have always been important, but 2022 is the year to focus on expanding the online reviews of your business. Keep in mind that now, more than ever, people are taking time to evaluate their options before making a purchase decision, and what better source of information than previous shoppers telling their experiences?

Good online reviews have the power to attract new customers to your business because they offer other potential customers a level of credibility like no other message that comes directly from you as a brand.

Depending on your type of business some review platforms will work better and suit you best. For example, for a retailer or local shop, Google Business will be the main review platform. But if you are a B2B software company, your customers will look you up on sites like Gartner or Capterra.

You can encourage your clients to write reviews of your business by offering some kind of incentive or reward. E-commerce sites like Shein, give points they later exchange for discount coupons to users that give stars, write a review and add photos of the product they purchase.

6. Automated Web Push Notifications

If you are a digital marketer and aren’t aware by now of the definitive disappearance of third-party cookies next year, you have been living under a rock. But, yes, by the end of 2022 we are going to live in a 3rd party cookieless internet, so marketers need to find new, effective ways to do remarketing.

Luckily, web push notifications are here to save the day by offering a unique solution to do retargeting without ads, making them a must-have in your 2022 digital marketing strategy. 

Web push notifications are browser based messages that appear to users after accepting them and becoming subscribers. These messages are 100% customizable and respond to user behaviour and the actions they took when browsing your site. 

You can define as many scenarios you want and target users through every step of the funnel with engaging information that compels them to come back to your site and complete a transaction. Notifications can include product images, name, price, brand and pretty much any information you want. 

The two main advantages of web push notifications are:

• They reach users outside your site: even if users leave your website, they still receive a notification while they are browsing any other page, just like they would get an ad on another site if you put cookies on them. 

• They reach users on desktop and mobile devices: without needing to create an app, web push notifications reach subscribers on all devices. 

Their reach and hyper-personalisation capabilities make web push notifications a very nice solution to tackle a cookieless internet. 

7. Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing is the strategy of using several channels such as social media, email, web push notifications and blogs to reach more users with a cohesive message to reach business goals. 

According to ClickZ omnichannel marketing strategies bring excellent results:

• Engagement rate: 18.96% on omnichannel vs 5.4% on single-channel
• Purchase frequency: 250% higher on omnichannel vs single-channel
• Average order value: 13% more per order on omnichannel vs single-channel
• Customer retention rates: 90% higher for omnichannel vs single-channel

In order to have a well-structured omnichannel marketing strategy, you can use marketing software that provides multi-platform automation services. If you center all of your communications in one place, you can offer a much more consistent image across platforms without overlapping one message with another at the risk of oversaturating users.

Via automation you can combine message sequences in different channels to reach users through the platform of their preference. For example, you can create a sequence to recover abandoned carts with a first message delivered through email, a second one via web push and a third one via SMS. 

An omnichannel marketing strategy allows you to reach your customers where they are. Design messages that compliment one another and offer value during the entire customer journey and you’ll see amazing results. 

General Tips for you  2022 Digital Marketing Campaigns

Before we send off 2021, there are some marketing practices that will always be a cornerstone to make our strategies the best they can be:

• Optimize with A/B tests: remember that no matter how much insight you have about your target audience, there’s always room for improvement and A/B testing is your friend. When launching new campaigns, try different versions, analyze the results and optimize accordingly. 

• Content marketing is always a go: content marketing keeps gaining ground as a basis for any online business. A solid content marketing strategy that answers your target audience’s pain points for every stage of the funnel is key to create brand awareness, generate leads and increase conversions. 

• Hyper-personalisation is extremely important: paradoxically in a world that has gone global, people are eager for personalised experiences. That’s why (if you are not doing already) you give all of your communication a level of personalisation that makes users feel you are talking directly to them and that you cater to their needs specifically. This means including their names, the exact product they were interested in and any detail that makes the message as personal as possible. 

Final Thoughts on Digital Marketing Trends 2022

It seems digital marketing keeps moving in the direction of offering super personalised experiences via AI and machine learning, whilst alleviating workload for makerteres to focus on optimization. 

The imminent disappearance of third-party cookies will also require new solutions and strategies that allow brands to keep in touch and engage with their customers through time without diminishing their online experience. 

Surely 2022 will bring along lots of surprises, new marketing tech and even revolutionize the social media world like the Clubhouse app did during early 2021. As always we will be here gathering the most important digital marketing trends for you every month.

In the meantime, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The most joyful time of the year is fastly approaching: Christmas! Ho Ho, it’s time to put on our thinking hats and make our brands shine for the last major holiday of the year. And what better excuse to reach out to new and old customers than amazing Christmas offers, discounts and special products?

Businesses need a very strong online presence and a super effective digital marketing strategy to really stand out during these times when all brands are competing for customer’s attention. 

Why should you have a Christmas Marketing strategy?

If you are wondering if and why you should plan a specific Christmas digital marketing strategy for your ecommerce, here are some interesting insights:

• According to GlobeSt, in 2021, experts predict that online retail sales will make up 16.3% of total retail sales. It will hit 18.3% in 2023 and 19.9% by 2025. 
• A study from eMarketer states that by 2022, retail sales from e-commerce will comprise 16.3% of total retail sales.
• CNBC says that the number of shoppers that went to brick-and-mortar stores on the Saturday before Christmas 2020 dropped by 40.9% from a year ago.

Keep in mind that during, and after the Covid pandemic, a lot of customers changed the way they shop, getting used to purchasing online and less in physical stores. Brands and businesses need to adapt to the new shopping habits and offer customers what they are looking for. 

To help you prepare better for the upcoming holidays we would like to share with you: 

Christmas Marketing Ideas and Strategies to Boost your Ecommerce Sales 2021

With the purpose of making this guide as helpful as possible, we are going to divide it into two sections:

• Channels to use in your Christmas marketing campaigns

• Strategies and ideas for your Christmas marketing campaigns

This way, you’ll have ideas on actions to do and ideas on how to communicate those actions the most effective way. Let’s start with:

1. Strategies and Ideas for Your Christmas Marketing Campaigns

The first step in planning your Christmas digital marketing campaign for your e-commerce is to decide exactly what you are going to offer. Whether it is discounts, product bundles, or limited offers you must be very clear, for this is what will guide all the rest of the steps. 

In this section we will share some ideas for your ecommerce Christmas campaign!

1.1 Dress Up Your Website

When people go on Christmas shopping they want to be filled with excitement and holiday spirit: give it to them as soon as they enter your site! When people go to physical stores during Christmas time, they are surrounded by decorations, lights and music, try to give them that experience online as well.

You can do it by maybe changing the colors of your site a little bit, adding Christmas decorations to your logo, changing product images and descriptions to fit the season mood. Making your website festive by including some details can tilt the balance in your favor when it’s time for potential customers to shop!

If you don’t have time to design Christmas-themed assets for your site, many CMS like WordPress and Shopify have free plugins you can activate with just a few clicks! 

1.2 Christmas Products, Collections and Bundles

Whichever type of product you sell, there’s always a way you can give it a Christmas twist to make it more appealing to potential customers during the holiday season. You can:

• Create Christmas product bundles ready to gift
• Decorate your products with some sort of Christmas add-on like ribbons, stars, glitter or Christmas ornaments
• Offer gift wrapping service for the purchase, with customizable cards

An even more attractive strategy is to create a special Christmas Edition of some of your most popular products. It can be a new color, flavour, scent or design that’s only available for a short period of time in your online store. 

In addition to making the product something special for Christmas, you will be appealing to a sense of scarcity, enticing people to make their purchase before you run out of stock and the miss the chance to purchase a unique edition. 

1.3 Christmas Sales!

When it comes to seasonal marketing strategies, one of the most attractive things is to promote the fact that shoppers won’t get the same deals any other time of the year. 

That’s why offering unique Christmas promotions and discounts is a wonderful strategy to attract shoppers and increase sales. Flash sales work great because people are afraid they might lose the opportunity to purchase a product they want for a lower price. 

Keep in mind that during Christmas, people are spending a lot of money buying gifts for everyone and, for sure, they will appreciate a good bargain when doing their shopping. You can apply 2×1 discounts, big price reduction on selected products, free shippings and discounts for after Christmas shopping. 

2. Channels to Use During your Christmas Marketing Campaigns

Ok, so you already have amazing sales, discounts, gifts, offers and special product bundles to offer your clients for Christmas, now is the moment to think about how are you going to let them know about everything you have prepared for them.

In this section we are going to share different channels you can use to communicate and engage with your customers by offering information about your products and services, solve doubts and, overall, help them make a purchasing decision during the hectic Christmas shopping time. 

2.1 Manual Christmas Web Push Notifications Campaigns

Web push notifications are a great channel to communicate and truly engage with your customers. Their inherent qualities such as not requiring personal data, being able to reach users both on mobile and desktop outside of your website and their level of customization make them a very effective tool.

This the perfect channel to include in your Christmas marketing strategy since we have established the importance for your brand to stand out from the crowd. You can design christmasy manual web push campaigns to notify your customers about your special Christmas offers, discounts or bundles. 

Unlike automated web push notifications, manual campaigns reach your entire subscribers database. They are the browser-based communications channel equivalent to a newsletter, which means they are super versatile and useful for sharing time sensitive information. 

You can prepare a series of manual web push notifications to inform your customers about: 

• what’s special in your online store for the month 
• send reminders to do their shopping on time
• invite them to seize an offer of special sale
• inform them about new arrivals, Christmas collections and more

2.2 Christmas Email Marketing Campaigns

Emails are one of the most profitable digital marketing channels so it’s pretty obvious that you must include them in your Christmas marketing campaign. The works is very similar to that of manual web push notifications, except that in this case, you’ll be reaching out to customers that have shared their personal information with you and you can include more detailed information. 

Since you have more space and unlimited time for users to read, with email marketing campaigns you can be more explanatory about all you have to offer during Christmas. This is the ideal channel to include beautiful and large images, countdowns, social media links and everything you can imagine to enrich the content and make it irresistible!

Using a marketing automation tool you can design and schedule a sequence of emails to be sent through a period of time adjusting each message to the offer or discount you are running at the time and appealing to a sense of urgency as the final dates of Christmas sales approach. 

Keep in mind that emails are extremely customizable and you should use all the cards under your sleeve to make them as attractive as you can with festive visuals, christmasy-copies and an overall happy holidays spirit. 

2.3 Live Chat

It’s normal for people to be a little more on edge during a holiday season. Customers might have more questions and doubts about your products, services, delivery times and want to get faster replies to make decisions and complete their Christmas shopping in time. 

Integrating a live chat to your website is a great asset to connect with your customers in a very direct way and make them feel more comfortable and more cared for.

Consider that you can lose a lot of sales if customers don’t find a way to resolve their doubts quicker than usual. With a live chat you can create deeper relationships with visitors and convert them into customers. Specially during a time like Christmas when you are surely getting more traffic than usual to your site.

2.4 Create a Christmas Landing Page 

A specific Christmas landing page is a key element to increase conversions, since it is focused on one single objective and makes the decision-making process easier for customers.

You can design a super christmas-theme landing page in which you display special products only available during the holidays for example. You can create different versions for different target audiences or sales and segment customers to redirect them to the one that fits them best depending on their interests. 

Seasonal landing pages can have a great impact on your sales. There are many options to create beautiful landing pages you can check out:

• Swipe Pages
• Unbounce
• Instapage

All in all…

These are some of many digital marketing strategies and ideas for your 2021 Christmas campaign. You can combine the channels with the strategies that best fit your brand to engage with your target audience and boost your revenue!

Before you go, check out:

• Tips for a Successful Holiday Email Marketing Campaign
• Web Push Notifications Done Right – 7 Mistakes To Avoid!
• The Future of Digital Marketing Without 3rd Party Cookies

We are excited to share that we have launched a new overview of campaigns analytics on the Frizbit Dashboard so that you can see detailed reports of all your campaigns in one place.

In this view of campaign reporting section, you can see information about the following actions for each push notification, email and SMS campaign depending on the case:

• Received
• Clicked
• CTR (Click through Rate)

You can also filter by specific time periods and the campaign type. You can also download reports as PNG, PDF or CSV by clicking on the button at the right-bottom.

To access this panel, you just have to log into your Frizbit account, go to the left menu and click on Campaigns > Overview.

At Frizbit we are constantly making improvements to the product, to offer you the best possible product and we hope that this new functionality will be very useful for you and that you can see the results of your campaigns whenever you want.

We are at your service for any questions or comments.

We wish you a great November from the entire Frizbit team.

2021 has gone by extremely fast, we are already in the last quarter of the year and the most important dates for marketers are upon us: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. That is why it is more important than ever to be informed about what’s new in the digital marketing world and use all tools available to carry out the best campaigns.

Here are the most relevant:

Digital Marketing News and Updates from October 2021

1. Search Marketing Updates

• Shopify & Microsoft Team Up To Help Merchants Reach More Shoppers

Microsoft is aware of the significant increase in online shopping and the acceleration of e-commerce sites, that’s why they are looking for ways to help brands connect with consumers. With that in mind, they recently announced a partnership with Shopify. 

Shopify merchants can now reach more shoppers using the updated Microsoft Channel app available in their Shopify store. They will have access to more customers through the Microsoft Search Network and Microsoft Audience Network. 

Merchants can connect to the Microsoft Channel app using their Microsoft Advertising accounts or by signing up in a few steps. They can create new ad campaigns, access real-time reports in their Shopify store and all merchants’ products are automatically able to be shown on the Microsoft Bing Shopping tab and the Microsoft Start Shopping tab free as Product Listings.

This new feature is currently available just for Shopify merchants in the United States and Canada.

Microsoft states that soon they will be rolling out a checkout option via the Buy button “to help consumers quickly bridge the gap from discovery to purchase”. 

• Google Mobile Search Updated With Continuous Scrolling

Mid October, Google announced to their blog The Keyword that Continuous scrolling is coming to Google Search on mobile devices. 

Google is always working towards helping people find what they are looking for easily and quickly. Making Search results browsing a seamless experience is a priority, and that is why they are introducing continuous scrolling on mobile devices.

Now, when users conduct a search from their mobile device and reach the bottom of a results page, the next set of results will automatically load to offer more information. The reason behind this update is to save people from having to click on the “See more” button and make their browsing experience more pleasant.

“While you can often find what you’re looking for in the first few results, sometimes you want to keep looking. In fact, most people who want additional information tend to browse up to four pages of search results.” – Google Blog

The new Search experience is starting to gradually roll out today for most English searches on mobile in the U.S.

• Google Rolls Out New Eco-Friendly Search Filters

Google’s rolling out new Search filters to help people make more environmentally-conscious decisions when looking for flights, hotels, routes or products. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a series of green initiatives from the company, and this new Search filter is one of them.  

• Google Flights Updates: an update to Google Flights will showcase information about carbon emissions in SERP. The information will be displayed next to the price and duration of the flight. 

• Hotel results: when looking for a hotel, users will now see information regarding their sustainability efforts such as waste reduction and water conservation measures, and whether they’re Green Key or EarthCheck certified.

• Environmentally Friendly Appliances: a Google Shopping update will help shoppers find the most environmentally friendly options when looking to buy appliances by displaying the most sustainable products. 

• Eco-friendly Routing in Google Maps: from now on in the U.S and in Europe from 2022, Google Maps will show you the most fuel efficient route to choose from. Google estimates that by doing this, they could help save over one million tons of carbon emissions per year.

Google says that all these efforts are aimed towards being more sustainable and helping contribute against climate change:

In all these efforts, our goal is to make the sustainable choice an easier choice. At the individual level, these choices may seem small, but when people have the tools to make them at scale, they equal big improvements. We’ll need nothing less to avert the worst consequences of climate change, and we’ll continue to find ways our products can help.

2. Marketing Tech Updates

• Free AI Content Optimization Tool by MarketMuse

MarketMuse is a platform built to accelerate the content research, creation, and optimization process using AI and they recently launched a free version of their software.

This tool is designed to help content creators plan and optimize their writing with helpful insights powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. The new free version is very similar to the paid one and contains the primary features of MarketMuse, the only difference is that, with the paid version, you can focus on more queries. 

The new version is thought out to help small sites with up to 35 queries a month and it offers the following features: 

• Optimize
• Connect
• Compete
• Research
• Questions

Many MarketMuse users have reported the tool to be a complete game changer for their content marketing strategy:

In my opinion, MarketMuse is useful for every business that is doing content marketing. Using MarketMuse, you can create in-depth content that is valued by readers and considered authoritative. I used MarketMuse as an experiment on one of my sites, and my organic traffic grew by 400% in less than 6 months. – Israel Gaudette, Full-time affiliate marketer and founder of the Link Tracker Pro rank tracker.

• Google For Creators Is Here To Help Publishers Get Found & Make Money

Google is introducing Google for Creators to offer personalized guidance, product recommendations and inspiration for creators. 

In a recent blog post Google announced the launch of a new tool to help content creators learn, grow and get inspired. The objective is to bring audiences closer to the content the like and enjoy, at the same time it helps creators reach and connect with more people. 

Google for Creators shows how the web can become part of your content mix. A quick quiz on the homepage provides personalized recommendations with topics most relevant to you. So if you’re just getting started, the quiz might recommend that you check out guides for finding a niche or creating a content strategy. Or if you’re a more seasoned creator, you might see recommendations for learning how to grow your audience and make more money. – Google Blog

The tool is promised to be useful for all types of content creators, new ones or more experienced ones. The quiz will offer relevant insights and recommendations on how to find a niche, planning a content strategy and how to grow your audience. 

Google will release more features in the coming months. 

• WordPress Releases Gutenberg 11.6 

Early October WordPress released Gutenberg 11.6 fixing bugs and making important changes and improvements. Gutenberg is a WordPress site builder with drag and drop functionality to design interfaces. 

Gutenberg is rolling out in a four phase development process and it’s currently in the second one. This builder is aimed to “to revolutionize the entire publishing experience as much as Gutenberg did the printed word”, according to the description in its plugin page. 

The 11.6 version includes:

• Site Logo cropping and rotating within the editor: users are now able to adjust their websites’ logos directly within WordPress. Before this update the image used as a logo had to be edited before loading it in the site. With the Site Logo block’s toolbar that won’t be necessary anymore. 

• Locking control at block level: this new feature allows designers to lock individual blocks to prevent them from moving or accidentally removing them. 

• Query Pagination uses Flex Layout: the new Gutenberg version improves the Query Pagination block to support the flex layout.

There are other notable improvements and changes with Gutenberg 11.6 such as basic support for child themes, enhancements to the writing flow and much more that you can check out in detail here. 

3. Social Media Updates

• Facebook Has New Communication Tools For Businesses

Facebook is rolling out changes and improvements targeted to small businesses. These updates are coming just in time for important marketing dates such as Black Friday and the holiday season which reportedly counts for 20% of annual revenue for small businesses.

Let’s sum up the new features:

• Video and Audio Calling on Messenger: Facebook is testing business audio and video calling with some businesses using Business Inbox in Messenger. This feature allows them to connect directly with their customers right from the platform in order to facilitate transactions.

• Live Audio Rooms: earlier this year Facebook launched Live Audio Rooms as their own version of ClubHouse appa. They are now making it available for small businesses to host live conversations on topics they consider relevant for their target audiences. 

• Expanding Appointment Booking Globally: the appointments feature on Facebook is an easy way for customers to book appointments with local service providers, and for businesses to manage their bookings. From now, Facebook is gradually making Appointment books available to all small businesses, globally.

• Personalized Ads: Facebook wants to let people know they are supporting a small business when they come across a small business ad, so they are testing the display of an informational message in the feed that lets people know they liked or loved a small business ad. According to Facebook “The message explains how engaging with an ad from a small business can help the business continue to find new customers and grow.”

 

• Instagram Adds More Demographic Insights For Businesses

Instagram is introducing new audience insights as a way to give content creators and professionals the tools they need to make more money doing what they love on the social media platform. They are rolling out: accounts engaged, engaged audience, reached audience and new transparency for creators who partner with brands.

• Accounts Engaged and Engaged Audience: the “accounts engaged” feature shows the number of people that interacted with your content in a specific period of time. Instagram is also adding demographic insights to help professionals have a better understanding of their audience. 

• Reached Audience: Instagram is adding new information about reached audiences also adding important demographic insights such as top cities, top countries, top age ranges and gender. 

• Transparency for Creators: Instagram is going to give more visibility to creators who partner with brands to create collaborative content. “When a brand promotes a creator’s post with the paid partnership label or creates an ad without a pre-existing post, that creator will now be able to see the performance of that ad including reach, likes, comments, saves and shares.”

• Instagram Tests new “Add Yours” Sticker for Stories

If you hang out a lot on Instagram you might have already come across the new “Add Yours” sticker in someones’ story. 

Instagram rolled out this new sticker as a way to create chains of content in the app. It works like this: a user uploads a story and inserts the “Add Yours” sticker of a certain topic. Then when another user sees it, they can click on it and their own input to the topic, thus creating a chain of content. 

For example, someone can create a prompt about their favorite Italian restaurant, share it, and then other users can add their own favorites. This is a great way for brands to connect and reach new audiences. 

Even though the sticker is limited to users in Japan and Indonesia, once a prompt has been created, anyone can participate. 

This are the most relevant Digital Marketing News and Updates from October 2021

There were many updates in search, tech and social media marketing this past month and certainly many interesting features to try for next big dates like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. 

Did you have a favorite? Let us know in the comments!

You can also find useful:

• Top 2021 Black Friday Digital Marketing Strategies for Your E-commerce
• “Don’t Use Web Push Notifications!” Demystifying the Biggest Prejudices About Web Push Notifications
• SMS Marketing: 7 Tips for a Winning Strategy

With Black Friday rapidly approaching and prices for ad space skyrocketing again, marketers are once more faced with this annually recurring, though nonetheless challenging question: How do you create the perfect Digital Marketing Black Friday campaign that reflects current shopping trends, has not been done before, and makes your own business stand out from the competition, especially if you don’t have the kind of Marketing budget e-commerce giants like Amazon have at their disposal? Sure, finding an answer can feel daunting, but no need to stress, because in this article, we will not only inform you about relevant shopping trends, we will also explain to you all you need to know about creating and optimizing your 2021 Black Friday Digital Marketing campaigns.

These are the topics we will cover today:

1. General Tips
2. Black Friday 2021 shopping trends 
3. Which channels should you use?
4. 7 Strategies for making your black Friday Digital Marketing campaign stands out
5. Conclusion

One thing I should make clear here is that, while technically SEO, referral traffic and onsite improvements are part of Digital Marketing as well, this article focuses on strategies related to paid digital marketing campaigns, so if you’re looking for information on improving your keyword strategy or generating referral traffic, this might not be the right place for you.

1. General Tips for you Black Friday Digital Marketing Strategy

Here’s a few basic things to keep in mind when working on a digital marketing plan for Black Friday 2021:

• Start early enough: Things like collecting subscribers for your email campaigns can take time.
• Do your research: Before you start working on this year’s campaigns, look into what worked in the past. Also inform yourself about current shopping trends that impact your Black Friday planning.
• When setting up campaigns, a comprehensive omnichannel strategy usually works best!

2. Black Friday 2021 shopping trends: 

Before we start talking about the actual campaigns, let’s look into some current shopping trends affecting Black Friday sales in 2021. 

Where do people buy? 

• The trend for more shopping to be done online is expected to continue in 2021, even now that the situation around Covid has settled some and most stores have reopened, so make sure to take this into account when choosing your channels and creating your content. 
• Another noteworthy development is that according to similarweb, 75% of last year’s Black Friday shoppers used mobile devices to research products and complete purchases, so a similarly high percentage of mobile shoppers can be expected this year.

And finally, with the pandemic, supporting local businesses has become important to many consumers, so use this to your advantage when targeting local shoppers.

When do people buy?

• According to similarweb, around a third of holiday shoppers are planning to do their holiday shopping in 2021 earlier than they did last year. Make sure to target these people with your Black Friday campaigns.
• Another very important trend that has started in recent years, is that Black Friday sales are not limited to the actual Black Friday anymore, instead they extend over several days, so make sure your business is prepared for that. In fact, the majority of businesses generates more revenue on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday itself.

What do consumers want?

• More than ever, consumers expect an effortless shopping experience from anywhere, not just from their home, with flexible payment terms, delivery options, and return policies. The more flexibility you offer, the better. Popular examples of this are “buy now, pay later” models or extended returns till after Christmas for unhappy gift recipients. 

A surprising trend that started with the pandemic is that people are checking out more new brands rather than sticking to their proven repertoires. This can be a chance to attract new customers, but makes it difficult to retain loyal customers.

3. Which Channels Should You Use?

To keep it brief, here’s a list of the most popular online channels that can be used for Digital Marketing purposes:

• Display Ads
• Email and SMS campaigns
• Social Media posts, videos and ads on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube,…
• Mobile/App Push notifications 
• Web Push notifications 

I’m sure everyone knows about Display Ads, but if you’re on a budget, alternatives such as web push notifications for which you pay a fixed price might be worth considering, since there’s no need to outbid the competition for ad space. 

Again, rather than putting all your efforts into one channel, set up a comprehensive omnichannel strategy to reach a wide range of users in a wide range of situations. Also make sure that your online campaigns reflect your general brand image, and that your digital campaign strategy fits in with your onsite efforts, your SEO, and offline Marketing channels such as TV, print, or outdoor ads.

4. Seven Strategies for making your black Friday Digital Marketing campaign stand out: 

a) Timing

b) Incentives

c) The element of surprise

d) Innovation

e) Social and environmental responsibility

f) Content and Design

g) Engagement

a) Timing: it doesn’t start and end with the actual event 

As you’re probably very aware of as a marketer, the competition for ad space around Black Friday is absolutely crazy. If you’re working for a smaller e-commerce with limited resources and you’re worried about not being able to compete with bigger bidders, don’t panic. If you strike at a less popular time, you can achieve amazing results at comparatively little cost. 

• Bid early: Rather than paying a lot for ad space during the actual Black Friday weekend, you could run Black Friday campaigns in the weeks or even months leading up to the event 

Example 1: Walmart 

Have you already considered preparing your consumers for Black Friday in advance, for example in the form of a countdown like in this campaign by Walmart? That way, there will be less competition for the attention of shoppers and ad space will be much cheaper.

Example 2: Frank and Oak

Maybe you can even get consumers to add your event to their calendar the way Frank and Oak did, so you don’t have to do the reminder on the actual day when everyone else does. 

Example 3: Kopari

Another company that managed a great build-up to Black Friday is Kopari with their social media campaign in which influencers presented their favorite holiday gifts featuring products from Kopari in the month leading up to Black Friday. Not only did this remind shoppers of the brand, it also gave them inspiration for specific products to buy making the choice easier for overwhelmed shoppers.

Example 4: Zippy

Zippy extended the event throughout the entire month of November with this Black Month campaign keeping shoppers interested in the brand by announcing surprise offers:

• Bid late: The opposite works as well: As the term “Black Friday” is very strongly associated with sales, you can still grab consumers’ attention with Post-Black Friday campaigns into December, for example through catchy headlines making reference to the event with messages such as “Black Friday’s over, but we’re bringing it back for you!” 

Example 1: Doggyloot

Here’s an example of such a Post-Black Friday campaign sent in December by Doggyloot:

b) Incentives: offer more than just your product

Everyone likes getting free gifts, so encourage customers to buy from your site by adding extras to your offer. Or instead of gifts, you could offer free shipping and returns or give access to exclusive benefits during future events. A great way to upsell is if you make gifts and extra benefits depend on the value spent in your shop.

Example 1: Shinesty 

Shinesty offered more gifts, the more you bought. Personally, I’m not sure if I would have appreciated receiving 8 gifts with my purchase, but it seems to have worked for them and at least most of your Christmas shopping is taken care of after purchasing something at Shinesty for 250$.

Example 2: KVD

This company offered an entire gift bundle and made it even more attractive by offering two designs for some sense of personalization.

 

c) The element of surprise: Catch your customers off-guard 

If you really want to stand out from the crowd, use shock value. There’s nothing better to pique someone’s curiosity than an email with the scandalous headline stating that Black Friday has been cancelled this year. If that’s too risky for you, no problem, you can still tease people with little snippets promising an amazing surprise without giving any further details, or make your headlines purposely obscure, ambiguous, or otherwise unexpected.

Example 1: Chubbies

Chubbies caused quite the stir with this email campaign announcing the cancellation of Black Friday. Also notice the email address in the subject line of the email! A message like that leaves people confused and eager for more information.

 

Example 2: Cards Against Humanity

Something that is becoming more and more popular are Anti-Black Friday campaigns, especially among companies with a sustainable mission. For an example check out Cards Against Humanity’s campaign from last year that didn’t just cancel Black Friday, but took it a step further and asked customers to pay more rather than offering discounts. It definitely got people talking about the brand!

Example 3: Death Wish Coffee

If you don’t want to take it quite that far, there are much simpler ways to appeal to shoppers’ curiosity, just take a look at what Death Wish Coffee did. They surprised shoppers by assigning them a random gift code that could be anywhere in between 1$ and 100$. A big part of the appeal lay in the fact that you didn’t know the value before checking out.

 

d) Innovation: Offer things not usually on offer

It’s always a good idea to come up with innovative ideas and features. That could be product features not usually available such as mix and match options, innovations related to the shopping experience such as shipping and return conditions, or the invention of an entirely new event like Black Thursday or Technicolor Friday.

Example 1: Bath and Body Works

Bath and Body Works offered a feature only available on Black Friday, a mix and match option for the entire store.

Example 2: Cartier

Cartier realized that many Black Friday shoppers are shopping holiday gifts for others which makes bad buys inevitable. That’s why they decided to extend returns until after Christmas.

Example 3: Community Forklift

Community Forklift came up with their own name for the event, one that is more in line with their brand image. Instead of Black Friday, they celebrated Green Friday and Small-business Saturday. I also really like the accompanying slogan and the idea to have people make their own gifts together!

 

e) Social and environmental responsibility: Stand out by standing up for your values 

More and more businesses are associating their Black Friday campaigns with social or environmental causes. There are a number of different ways to do this, some businesses promote conscious consumption by discouraging consumers from shopping that day, some use the revenue generated during Black Friday to support non-profit organizations, some plant trees for every purchase made on their site, and others simply offer educational material to make issues more transparent. Associating with a good cause is another great way to build long-term relationships with your customers.

Example 1: Deciem

Deciem used their Black Friday campaign to remind shoppers of conscious consumption. That’s why they didn’t offer a Black Friday sale, but an educational month and extended discounts. That reduced the sense of urgency and the feeling that you’re missing out on something if you don’t buy immediately.

Example 2: Birdsong

This company highlighted the downside of Black Friday and some of the injustices in the fashion industry with a Transparent Friday campaign. What’s really unique about it is that they let shoppers choose their discount value themselves after reading through the informational material.

 

f) Content and design: Make your campaigns unique and appealing

To make people want to continue reading, try using humour and wordplay for good headers and subject lines, tell captivating stories, create cute animations that appeal to people’s emotions, or come up with special design themes that capture attention, are easily recognizable and reflect what your business is about.

Example 1: Hermes 

Hermes did a great job with this winter wonderland video reel. It told a story, looked cute, appealed to people’s emotions and featured the company’s products.

Example 2: Asos

Asos chose to follow a very recognizable design theme with this comic book vibe campaign:

Example 3: Chubbies

Chubbies used humor and wordplay in their campaign. As this example shows, it can also be a good strategy to build campaigns around one particular product to avoid overwhelming shoppers with choice.

Example 4: Target

Target’s campaign was based on this catchy headline: “First we turkey, then we Target!”

 

g) Engagement: Work together with your shoppers to make your event special

Make your campaigns personal and interactive, maybe even celebrate Black Friday together with your customers by inviting them to live events or encouraging them to spend the day working towards a common cause with you. Allowing customers to interact with your brand usually has them talking about you for a long time, and as shoppers are not just buying a product, but become part of an experience, you leave them not only with positive memories of the event, but also with an emotional connection to your brand.

Example 1: Phoenix Productions 

Phoenix Productions organized a live fundraising raffle last year where shoppers could bid on gifts from their home.

Example 2: REIs #optoutside campaign

Another amazing campaign that encouraged customers to actively participate is the #optoutside campaign by outdoor company REI asking people to spend Black Friday outside rather than in the mall. The campaign was unique, promoted a good cause, and asked shoppers to join forces with the business, thus creating a sense of community and a long-lasting emotional bond.

Example 3: MeUndies 

Somewhat similar to Phoenix Productions, MeUndies invited shoppers to a live event. However, this time it took the form of an exclusive virtual party where MeUndies organized a live unveiling of their discounts. While the event was extremely successful in terms of returns, it also generated a lot of brand awareness.

Conclusion: 

As with most things, when planning and executing a Black Friday Digital Marketing campaign, there is no one size fits all ideal solution. Just remember that it is important to plan ahead, develop a comprehensive omnichannel strategy, be innovative and use your creativity to engage customers. If you can’t afford quantity, make it about quality and your sale can be just as memorable as that of leading e-commerce businesses. 

And most importantly, no matter which channels you use and which strategies you decide on, make sure that your campaign is aligned with your brand image, your brand values and your offline campaigns. It will probably serve you more to work on long-lasting strategies that bind customers to you even beyond Black Friday, rather than putting all your efforts into attracting them to your site for the weekend and getting them to buy from you right this minute.

Since you are already here, check out:

• “Don’t Use Web Push Notifications!” Demystifying the Biggest Prejudices About Web Push Notifications
• Remarketing: Everything You Need to Know
• Are Cart Abandonment Emails GDPR Compliant?

Is not rare to see frowns and hear negative comments when web push notifications are brought to the table as a new addition to a digital marketing strategy. Myths and strong-felt prejudices are common given the novelty of the channel and maybe a lack of understanding on how they work and the results they can provide for any digital business.

The truth is that web push notifications are one of the highest engaging digital marketing channels available for online businesses. Frizbit’s clients have achieved remarkable success with ROAS up to 36x and costs per session as low as 0,02€. 

Given the fact that there still are way too many misconceptions about this new retargeting channel, we believe is time to address the issue and demystify the

Biggest Prejudices About Web Push Notifications

1. “Users don’t Want to Receive Web Push Notifications”

The first comment you might hear when mentioning web push notifications is“how many users actually click on allow?” and  “users don’t accept them, nobody likes web push notifications” . 

Well, we are here to tell you that’s just not true at all. 
A study revealed that web push notifications have an overall acceptance rate of 16,7% globally. Even though there are many factors that can affect the willingness of a user to click on “allow” when asked to subscribe, there’s no other channel that offers such a high opt-in rate.

Web push notifications have a x3 higher opt-in rate than emails. Keep in mind that users are not requested to share any type of personal information to subscribe, which is a huge factor taken in consideration when it comes to deciding to opt-in to any marketing channel.

There are other variables that also affect opt-in rates to web push notifications such as:

• Device, whether mobile or desktop
• Country
• Business industry
• Engagement with the brand

Users do find web push notifications helpful and valuable as long as you offer them highly personalized and relevant content. People don’t have an innate hate for web push notifications, they just don’t like to receive useless information at all times of the day. You just need to make sure you always send the right message, to the right person at the right time.

Which brings us to web push notifications myth number two. 

2. “Web Push Notifications are Intrusive”

No, they are not. Nothing is intrusive by itself and the same goes for web push notifications. Of course a lot of people might be “scared” of this new channel because of bad practices some companies have pulled off in the past. 

However, with platforms like Frizbit you have many tools at your disposal to make sure you use them at their best, with careful consideration to never annoy your subscribers. 
Features like “frequency cap” are specially designed for this purpose. When creating new campaigns you can specify how many notifications you want your subscribers to receive within a day to make sure you don’t drown them with messages.

We usually recommend a frequency cap of two notifications per day. With Frizbit you have two levels of frequency cap: global and per campaign. This way you guarantee that, for example, a subscriber gets an automated message related to a product viewed or added to cart if they were browsing your site, and a manual notification regarding a special offer, if the case. 

Bottom line, making notifications intrusive or not is completely in your hands. You have full control over how many messages you send and how many messages a subscriber receives in a certain period of time. Make good use of it and you won’t have to worry about disturbing users, getting a bunch of opt-outs or giving bad reputation to web push notifications!

3. “Web Push Notifications are Difficult to Implement”

Many website owners get scared or intimidated when asked about the possibility of implementing web push notifications on their site with the misbelief of it being a cumbersome process. 

However, web push notifications are very easy to implement and configure when working with the right provider. First of all it’s important to know that web push notifications can be implemented in any website. 

Mainly, there are two ways to do it:

• Via Google Tag Manager: this is by far the easiest way to implement web push notifications and most websites use GTM. All you have to do in this case is add the snippet as a tag. Frizbit can do all the work by accessing your GTM as an editor an in just one day, you can be collecting subscribers. 

• Directly adding it to the site: if for any reason you don’t work with Google Tag Manager, you can add the JavaScript snippet by copying and pasting it inside the <head></head> section of your website.

That’s for implementation. When it comes to setting up the campaigns, Frizbit offers ready-to-use templates designed for five different scenarios that follow a typical customer shopping journey in an e-commerce.

Of course, these templates are completely customizable to fit the language and brand philosophy. You can also add or remove steps from the sequence as you see fit, and you only have to set up the campaigns one first time. From that moment forward, everything will run by itself and you just have to see the results and adjust accordingly, if necessary. 

4. “Web Push Notifications Have Low Conversion Rates”

Web push notifications affect the overall site’s conversion rate, globally, by having the power to bring back users that have already expressed interest in a product or service. 

Let’s put an example: imagine a user goes to your site, browses a bit, finds a product he likes and adds it to the cart, but leaves with the intent of finishing the purchase in another time. One hour later that user gets a cart abandonment web push notification, he clicks on it and goes back to finish the purchase. 

When the user starts the check-out process, it turns out that it is very complicated, confusing, the site asks for way too much personal information and the user ends up leaving without making the purchase. 

In this scenario, the web push notification got a click and fulfilled its purpose of bringing the user back to the site to complete a purchase and recover an abandoned cart. However, when the user found himself in such a complicated checkout process, he left without buying, thus not converting. The conversion didn’t occur due to a UX problem, not because of the notification. 

If you detect that your web push campaigns have low conversion rates, the problem might not be the notification at all. What’s important is that you contrast different variables to determine if there is a problem in any of the steps leading the user towards conversion. 

Contrast your web push notification click-through rate with your website’s conversion rate and time spent on page to understand how users are behaviouring to determine where you are losing them and hypothesize about why. 

5. “You Need to Develop an App to send Web Push Notifications”, “They Only Work on Desktop”

When people talk about push notifications, many automatically think of app push notifications. It is important to clarify that there are two different types of push notifications: web and app.

Web push notifications are sometimes also called browser-based. This is because they are sent to subscribers through their browsers when they go online and they are delivered to both desktop and mobile devices equally. App push notifications are sent to users through applications to their mobile devices only.

As we explained earlier, web push notifications are implemented on websites through a JavaScript snippet which makes them browser-based. This means that when users allow them and become subscribers, they will receive them the moment they open their browser, whether they navigate from desktop or mobile. There is no need to develop an app to be able to send web push notifications: all websites are eligible to do it. 

6. “Web Push Notifications Affect User Experience Negatively”

Because web push notifications are still a fairly new retargeting channel, there are a lot of misconceptions about what they are and how they work. And one of the most common ones is to confuse them with regular pop-ups we all know too well.

Web push notifications are not pop-ups. Pop-ups are messages that appear suddenly,without permission over the website’s content while the user is navigating it. They interrupt user experience by showing up unexpectedly, covering the content and are activated by an action, such as scrolling down or moving the cursor to a certain spot.

Unlike pop-ups, web push notifications only show if the user has allowed them by subscribing through an opt-in prompt that appears on the left top corner of the website when first visiting it. They also differ from pop-ups because they appear even when the user has left the site and don’t intrude over the site’s content. 

Because web push notifications are delivered outside the site that sent them, they don’t affect the user experience at all.  

These are the most common web push notifications myths out there

If you still have doubts about the workings of this new retargeting channel and what it can do for your online businesses, get in touch with us and we would be happy to offer you a free trial period of one month so you can see the results for yourself.

If you are looking for even more information about what are web push notifications and how they work, make sure you also read: 

• Web Push Notifications: A Complete Guide for all Levels
• 7 Tips to Increase Web Push Notifications Click Through Rate
• Web Push Notifications Campaigns VS. Retargeting Ads Campaigns